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THE INSIDER: turf
Teresa Carson
Calculating your savings
The Energy Snapshot can
provide a quick estimate
of a golf course's potential
annual savings in energy
and water costs and reduced carbon emissions.
Illustration courtesy of
Staples Golf
NEWS & notes
A team from the University of Connecticut Turf Club won the annual Tee2-Green Collegiate Turf Team Challenge
at the Golf Industry Show in San Diego.
Turf schools from around the country
competed in the Turf Team Challenge,
which was held in the Tee-2-Green
booth on the trade show floor. The
students answered a series of turf- and
golf-related questions. At the end of two
days, four teams were tied with 4,500
points. In the championship playoff
round, the UConn Turf Club edged out
last year's championship team, Ohio
State, as well as SUNY Cobleskill and
Oregon State University. The name of
the UConn Turf Club will be engraved
on the Seeds of Fortune trophy, and the
club will receive a plaque commemorating their win. To play the Tee-2-Green
Seeds of Fortune game, visit www.tee2-green.com/game.
Presented in partnership
with Barenbrug
38 GCM April 2013
Do you want a snapshot of energy use
on your entire golf course? Do you want to know
the potential for energy and water savings on your
course?
Have you got 20 minutes?
If you do, Staples Golf says they can give you
an "energy snapshot," using what they describe as
"the industry's frst tablet-based energy and water
savings calculator." In other words, they have an
app for that.
Stephen Quick, project manager for Staples
Golf, says, "It's an educational tool. It is a surveystyle app for the iPad that gives superintendents
a snapshot of their water and energy use. If they
know what they budget for water and energy, the
calculator can tell them potentially how much
they can save in water and energy costs and how
that translates to reductions in carbon emissions.
The calculator produces a PDF report that is a
summary of separate water and energy savings
and tips for changes that could be made around
the facility to help generate those savings."
The app was originally built as an in-house
tool to speed up processes in the
company's offce. In the past, superintendents would have to answer
the survey questions and wait for a
report. Now a superintendent can
answer the questions over the phone
and receive a report within minutes
of completing the survey.
According to Quick, an individual golf course or a management
company that runs several courses
can use the app to fnd out how effcient they are and how much money
they can potentially save. "Golf
courses are generally very good at
water conservation because the golf
course industry has been hammered
in that area," says Quick, "but many
people are not familiar with the relationship between water use and energy costs."
Quick says that realizing the goal
suggested by the app is usually a mix
of replacing equipment and managing the way superintendents do
things at their courses. "A lot of separate little steps can add up to a big
savings," he says. "What takes the most time to
achieve is making sure everyone at the golf course
is on board."
A new version of the app is in development.
Industry partners in golf course architecture and
irrigation are cooperating with the company and
will be looking at ways to maximize the app's
effectiveness.
The app is not available online, but superintendents can contact Staples Golf by phone or
email (http://staplesgolfdesign.com/). They will
walk you through the survey and send you the
PDF report at no charge.
"We want people to understand how we got
the results," says Quick. "The app has produced
accurate estimates for courses across the country, whether they are in New York, Connecticut,
Phoenix or Oregon. We're quite happy about
the results."
GCM
Teresa Carson (tcarson@gcsaa.org) is GCM's science editor.